1. Technical Field
The invention relates to an image data processing apparatus and an image data processing method for reading image data from a storage medium storing image files and processing the read data.
2. Related Art
An image data processing apparatus, which reads image data stored in an external storage medium and applies a data processing to the read image data, includes a storage for temporarily saving image data read from the storage medium to reduce the number of accesses to the storage medium. Image data necessary for data processing are read from the storage to be used for data processing when necessary. For example, in an image printing system disclosed in JP-A-2005-262651, when a user selects an image and its print condition to give a print instruction, the system starts requesting image data to an external storage medium such as a digital camera to obtain necessary data upon receiving the print instruction, generates print data from the obtained data and performs a printing operation.
In the case of reading image data from an external storage medium, it takes a longer time than the transfer of data in an apparatus. Thus, this image printing system includes a storage (cache buffer) for temporarily storing data read from the external storage medium.